Hundreds of Putney residents packed into St Mary’s church to raise their concerns to MP Justine Greening over the proposed Thames Tunnel project.

With the first public consultation deadline on January 14, Ms Greening held the public meeting on January 5 to hear what residents had to say ahead of her own discussions with Thames Water today (January 6).

The MP listened to local peoples' worries about Thames Water’s plans and was very much in support of their concerns.

She said: “The tunnel is something that we will need. But the proposals are unacceptable.

“If this goes ahead, residents are going to be living across the road from a building site. What we have to do is make Thames Water understand why the Barn Elms site is inappropriate.”

The main issue raised was over the use of the greenfield site at Barn Elms to build the tunnel’s main drive shaft, with there being calls for the currently unused Nine Elms site in Battersea to be considered instead.

Others were also concerns about the impact of a combined sewage overflow site on the Putney foreshore and the affects that it would have on the rowing clubs and the numerous annual boat races that take place.

With Ms Greening’s experience of successfully heading the campaign to stop the building of a third runway at Heathrow last year, many others also felt that she should raise the issues in parliament and try to get the government to intervene in the plans.

At the close of the meeting, Ms Greening was confident that all the residents’ efforts to oppose the plans will not be for nothing.

She said: “As a community we have spoken very loudly and we need them to come back and talk to us.”

She added: “It has been shown that when it is done in the right way, we can get things done.”

After the meeting, Louise de Silva, of local residents’ group StopTheShaft, said: “There are so many people working really hard to fight these plans, we are all exhausted from weeks of campaigning.

"But we won’t give up until we know we’ve done everything we can to ensure that Barn Elms is protected and a more suitable site is chosen.”

Additionally, Ms Greening is now setting up a working group to ensure residents can meet and talk directly with Thames Water throughout the entire process of developing the Thames Tunnel project.

If you are interested in being a part of the working group then please email Ms Greening at greeningj@parliament.uk with the subject TT Working Group or contact her office on 0208 946 4557.